Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/835

 JUTE 801 year we find the exports amounted to 496 mauads (364 cwt.). From that time the growth of the trade has been upon the whole steady and continuous, and marked by extraordinary progress, as will be evident from the following table of exports, which is compiled from official sources : Quantity. Value. Average of Five Years Quantity. Average of Five Years Value. 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 cwts. qrs. Ib 364 2 1,776 2 7,677 3 23,852 2 25,333 2 18

62 417 2,222 6,361 6,577 cwts. 1829-33 59,004 3 18 15,639 11,800 3,127 1834-38 1839-43 1844-48 1849-53 1854-58 1S59-63 186M38 337,415 3 585,238 1,170.279 1,196,750 3,554,133 4,848.620 13,140,550 83,246 119,604 256,125 649,165 1,298,339 2,608,869 6,129,590 67,483 117,047 234,055 439,350 710,826 969,724 2,628,110 16,649 23,920 51,225 129,833 259,667 521,773 1,225.918 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 3,612,8-% 8,439,475 3,764,226 6,218,579 7,255,689 2,028,456 2,030,678 2,585,579 4,170,435 4,234,962 1869-73 24,290,805 15,050,110 4,858,161 3,010,022 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 6,126,000 5,500,000 5,207.000 4,574,000 5,402,000 3,435,500 3,245,000 2.805,300 2^664,900 3,508,300 1874-78 26,809,000 15,659,000 5,361,800 3,131,800 1879 1880 5,755,000 6,316,000 3,636,500 4,119,200 Excepting a comparatively insignificant fraction, the whole of these exports of raw jute have been consigned to Great Britain, the United States of America being the only other country which bulks at all largely in the returns. Occasional shipments were made to America from 1829 onwards ; but the quantities were small and very fluctu ating till about 1850, up to which year frequently the total imports for a year were under 1000 cwts. From 1850-51 onward a rapidly increasing but still fluctuating demand for raw jute lias grown up in the United States, till in 1872-73 the American demand amounted to 307,718 cwts. of jute and 1,158,895 cwts. of cuttings and rejections. An importation of 3072 cwts. was made into France in 183G-37, but there was no steady demand for jute in that country till 1845-46, when 9708 cwts. were taken. Since that time there has been a varying but upon the whole increasing demand, and in 1872-73 there were imported 137,126 cwts. The only other considerable .shipments are to East Indian ports ; but, taken altogether, it may be said that quite nine-tenths of the raw jute which leaves Calcutta is primarily disposed of in the British market. Jute Manufacture. Long before jute came to be known and to occupy a prominent place amongst the textile fibres of Europe, it was in extensive use and formed the raw material of a large and important industry throughout the regions of eastern Bengal, in which the plant was cultivated. Among the native Hindu population the spinning and weaving of jute was, and still is, in various districts, the most important domestic industry. The forms into which the material is worked among the Hindu population for the Mussulmans do not use jute are cordage, cloth, and paper. The cordage is twisted into all sizes, from the fine thread used for weaving up to strong ropes for the hawsers of native boats and for tying bales. The more important native application of jute is, however, in the manufacture of gunny cloth and gunny bags, used in extraordinary quantity and number throughout the world, for packing and carrying all manner of goods and merchandise, and by the natives themselves for clothing and numerous domestic purposes. The ordinary mode of weaving gunnies for bags and other coarse purposes is thus described : &quot; Seven sticks or chattee weaving-posts, called tana pard or warp, are fixed upon the ground, occupying the length equal to the measure of the piece to be woven, and a sufficient number of twine or thread is wound on them as warp called land. The warp is taken up and removed to the weaving machine. Two pieces of wood are placed at two ends, which are tied to the ohari and okher or roller ; they are made fast to the khoti. The belut or treadle is put into the warp ; next to that is the sarsul ; a thin piece of wood is laid upon the warp, called chujxtri or regulator. There is no sley used in this, nor is a shuttle necessary ; in the room of the latter a stick covered with thread called sinya is thrown into the warp as woof, which is beaten in by a piece of plank called beyno, and as the cloth is woven it is wound up to the roller. Next to this is a piece of wood called khetom, which is used for smoothing and regulating the woof ; a stick is fastened to the warp to keep the woof straight.&quot; Gunny cloth is woven of numerous qualities, according to the purpose to which it is devoted. Some kinds are made close and dense in texture, for carrying such seed as poppy or rape and sugar ; others less close are used for rice, pulses, and seeds of like size, and coarser and opener kinds again are woven for the outer cover of packages and for the sails of country boats. There is a thin close-woven cloth made and used as garments among the females of the aboriginal tribes near the foot of the Himalayas, and in various localities a cloth of pure jute or of jute mixed with cotton is used as a sheet to sleep on, as well as for wearing purposes. To indicate the variety of uses to which jute is applied, the following quotation may be cited from the official report of Hem Chunder Kerr as applying to Midnapur. &quot;The articles manufactured from jute are principally (1) gunny bags ; (2) string, rope, and cord ; (3) kampa, a net-like bag for carrying wood or hay on bullocks ; (4) chat, a strip of stuff for tying bales of cotton or cloth ; (5) dola, a swing on which infants are rocked to sleep ; (6) shika, a kind of hanging shelf for little earthen pots, &c.; (7) duUna, a floor cloth ; (8) beera, a small circular stajid for wooden plates used particularly in poojahs ; (9) painter s brush and brush for white-washing ; (10) ghunsi, a waist-band worn next to the skin; (11) gochh-dari, a hair-band worn by women; (12) mnkbar, a net bag used as muzzle for cattle ; (13) parchula, false hair worn by players ; (14) rakhi-bandhan, a slender arm-band worn at the Rakhi-poornima festival ; and (15) dhup, small incense sticks burned at poojahs&quot; Raw jute fibre and old gunnies are also largely used throughout the presidency in the manufacture of paper. The introduction of jute factories on the European system into Bengal has had a considerable influence on the domestic manufacture of jute, notwithstanding that a vast industry is still prosecuted in the ancient Hindu manner. The following extracts from official tables will show the extent of this particular branch of industry. The number of gunny bags imported into Calcutta amounted in 1877-78 to 21,446,000, in 1878-79 to 26,380,000, and in 1879-80 to 20,488,000. The different districts which contributed chiefly to the trade during these three years are the following: Name of District. 1877-78. 1878-79. 1879-80. Number. 3,790,000 Number. 8,641,000 Number. 6&quot;, J 95,000 Hooehly 8,257,000 6,920,000 5,994,000 3,130 000 3,303,000 4,020,000 Pubna 2,851,000 2,532,000 2,658.000 263,000 326,000 494,000 347,000 2(10,000 Julpaiguri 381,000 484,000 204.000 117,000 512,000 169.000 XIII-